Did the scientists know about Cal's presence, or were the only trying to bring out secrets? Fans have some interesting theories for it

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'Manifest' episode six 'Off-Radar' has been declared by fans to be the best episode in the series to date due to its gripping plot, and the suspense that it has left the story in. Since the fifth episode, it was already established that Cal had some powers which were unlike any the other passengers had, and in the sixth episode, we found that Cal's clairsensitivity enables him to experience a person's emotions and sensations on the same level as the person does. It is almost like he literally lives in the shoes of the other person. However, Cal's powers, too, have consequences and they almost push him towards his death.

We soon realize that Cal's fever was the result of the experiments that the Bulgarian passenger Marco, and 10 other passengers, were subjected to.

The 11 missing passengers were held hostage by an obscure group of people who were giving electric shocks to the passengers in order to see how they respond to it. But why? Some fans actually have some very interesting theories on the matter. One Reddit user claimed that the scientists were trying to figure out a pattern on the passengers' head, a lot like what Saanvi had done earlier when she discovered the mark on her's and Cal's heads.

The fan suggests that the patterns might help them discover "what their bodies went through on the plane". However, since the whole operation seemed to be running under the support of a multi-billion company which in itself has close ties to the government, there are possibilities that they are "trying to figure it out so they can sell it.. think about it, anti-aging, putting a cancer patients age on hold until they can find something to treat it, etc."

The Reddit user claims, "I definitely think it’s to monetize whatever it is that caused the time lapse vs. trying to figure it out."

The scientists must be looking for something that Saanvi has already discovered. (IMDb)

This theory actually provides some clarity to the "why do it" behind the group's experiments. As a capitalist nation, to monetize anything including time, can be of benefit for everyone, and in case the scientists are able to crack how these people are hearing and seeing things beforehand, they can easily make a product out of it to sell in the market. Moreover, overcoming illness and halting the process of aging is any person's biggest desires, and what can bring better profit than giving human beings what they most desire for? However, the question still remains if the scientists were aware of Cal's mental connection with Marco?

Another Reddit user suggests, "It seems to me they are conducting the experiment on Bulgarian guy purposefully like they know what they are testing for and setting up the equipment to do just that." If that is the case then they were clearly aware of Cal's connection with Marco, and probably in order to get rid of Cal's apparent presence in Marco's head, they kept increasing the pressure on him until he collapsed. Cal's fever might have cooled down but he still knows that there is something coming and it might be dangerous for the people who were on that plane. However, the most assumed cause of the plane's disappearance continues to remain rooted in the worm-hole conspiracy.

Probably the scientists were already aware of Cal's illness. (IMDb)

One of the Reddit users mentioned, "Currently a wormhole would be the best logical assumption for what happened. To the unwilling participants, it would seem like no time had passed at all." It is also being suggested that the dubious group of scientists has actually created the wormhole to make the plane disappear. Although the reason behind that remains unknown, as of now it can be assumed that this group of scientists will have some important explanations behind all the unexplained things that have been happening to the Stone family and everyone else who was on that flight.